Posted by
Dan
at
10:02 AM
| Name of Model: Justyna Kowalczyk |
| Created by: hippotam |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippotam/sets/72157623528673878/detail/ |
Details:
 Here's one last Olympic model for this year's games. While I had previously blogged the mascot/logo of the games in LEGO form, I haven't even mentioned the athletes. Apparently this whole juncture is some sort of athletic competition. This model, based on Polish skier Justyna Kowalczyk is a simply a fantastic miniland-scale figure. The Technic-scale skis (which also appeared in the 1993 "Ice Planet 2002" line) work beautifully here, as do the antennae as ski poles. The real coup, though, is how well the click hinges allow the figure to be posed. She actually looks like she's skiing downhill! While click-hinges are often dismissed as "juniorization" (something to make LEGO kits easier for very young children to assemble that doesn't add value to the creative building process) by long-time LEGO hobbyists (these hinges were new roughly 10 years ago), their ability to lock in place makes them perfect for creating sturdy angles. In this case, we see the click-hinges used for the legs and the older "finger" hinges used for the feet. The effect works perfectly here. It's a shame that we won't be seeing "finger" hinges manufactured again in the future - Steve Witt confirmed at BrickFair 2009 that they are permanently discontinued, and he cited quality control as the reason for change to the newer hinges. That is completely understandable - most of us who grew up in the 90's (when "finger" hinges were easy to come by) have seen a few break over the years. It's increasingly becoming clear now that adult resentment at their "juniorization" was misplaced - LEGO wasn't trying to make the part easier for children to use, and as we've seen with today's model, there are new things coming out of the adult LEGO fan community that couldn't have been built with the older hinges. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: VancouverGamesInuksuk2010 |
| Created by: Janey Red Brick / Janey Gunning |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/janeyredbrick/4361230680/ |
Details:
 The Winter Olympics are back again this year, and this time they're being hosted by Vancouver, BC, Canada. Although Olympic logos are a rather inconsistent affair, Canada wisely chose to highlight an unusual part of their culture in their logo. Specifically, this logo is a colorized version of an inukshuk, which is a stone landmark built by humans (frequently by native tribes found in various regions of Canada). The logo is based on a very specific inukshuk found on Whistler Mountain. Being as topical as we are, it was just a matter of time before one of us LEGO addicts found a way to build the brightly-colored logo in LEGO form. The colors of the Olympic logo are even fairly close to the red, yellow, green, blue, and medium blue manufactured by LEGO. Janey Red Brick built this as a rather straightforward sculpture/mosaic (I think it fits in both categories) with the exception of the "head", which is built upside-down. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
8:39 PM
| Over at http://www.hklug.hk/blog/?p=21 (the Hong Kong LEGO Users Group blog), there's some great info on their new Olympics-themed layout. There are also more photos in their Brickshelf gallery and on FlickR. Last time someone told me about the Hong Kong group, I was assuming that they really meant the Malaysian group - but no, these guys are a different group and very awesome too. There are lots of great techniques in this layout too. It'll be on display at the Grand Century Place in Mongkok, Kowloon through August 31st. | | This is Sunday's model of the day. Don't ask me where Friday and Saturday went. |
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